December 4, 2011
Mark 1:1-8
The gospel of Mark brings a message of hope. It does not begin with Jesus' birth, but instead, begins with an announcement that this book is about the "beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" – the key word here being ‘beginning.’ Advent for us too is a beginning – it is the traditional beginning of the church year.
Bill Cotton’s Memo for Preachers this week provides the framework for our message today. In it he writes, “I think Advent means a fresh start.” God was about to do a completely new thing. In the midst of a humdrum world, where there was very little hope for the people and time was either something to be feared (end of the world stuff), or something that one must somehow wait out, (if I can just make it to tomorrow).
Mark begins his book by echoing the past. He cites Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;” It’s important to Mark that his readers understand this ‘beginning’ of the good news comes as the fulfillment of prophecy made in the past when things were just as bad, or even worse – God’s promised possibilities. The story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection is there for us wherever we find ourselves –in a modern day Babylon or captive Jerusalem – and always offers us ‘a fresh start.’
Reverend Cotton went on to say, “One thing I know: we do not have to be the way we are.” We do not have to continue living a humdrum life. The way we are” is the result of years of living in this creation we call “life on earth,” experiencing it, thinking about it, creating beliefs about what it all means - beliefs about ourselves and others, beliefs about what we can do (or not). We do not have to continue being what we have become. There can be a ‘fresh start.’
Mark reminds us that Isaiah came along to cry comfort to the people, release and forgiveness, the promise of restoration and a great homecoming. "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" It is a surprising, unexpected word of hope, rooted in the faithfulness of God. There will be a ‘fresh start.’
Some folks misunderstand the God of the Old Testament as a God of fear and threat, while the God of the New Testament is all about love and tenderness. Isaiah paints a fuller portrait of God. Yes, "the God who comes" is mighty and glorious and powerful, but the God of Israel is also a gentle shepherd, feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms and carrying them close to his heart.
The people Isaiah is speaking to are urged to make way for this good news in their lives, a transformation of their situation. The powers that be, Babylon, have been overturned. The mighty have fallen, and the "little" people can dance with joy. Mark shares this same word of hope to the people of his day, and to us as well. God wants for us a ‘fresh start.’
We forget that hope is within us, one thought away. We knew it as children. Remember. No matter how long we’ve lived with cynicism or despair, we can choose hope in an instant.
Where, in the communities where we live, does time need to be redeemed from insignificance? W.H. Auden, in his Christmas play, suggests the Christ story forces us to look and change the (nasty) habits of the heart. He speaks through shepherds who follow the same boring routine day in and day out, hoping for some good news for a change. Angels announce the birth of a Christ child and ‘their’ time is ‘traded in’ – hope is born! That would be good news for our time too!
The apostle Paul believed that the Christ event gave time a whole new meaning. The word he uses is Kairos, or special time, or pregnant moment. Whatever else the Christ Event means, we know that hope was created, and as W.H. Auden tells us, the time being was redeemed from insignificance.
The birth of Jesus offers each of us an opportunity to change and be changed. It offers a ‘fresh start.’ Advent isn't about mangers, shepherds and Magi from the east – but rather about the promised in-breaking of God's reign into the powers of this world and the fulfillment of that promise begun in God's incarnation in Jesus.
John the Baptizer, found in Mark today, represents this ‘fresh start.’ He is different. His life is not ‘ordinary’ by any means. What he chose to eat and wear were a statement that the "ways of his world" were not the "ways God provided." He rejected the robes of fine cloth the priests and scribes wore for a camel hair robe. He turned down the food available in town for the bugs and honey he could collect in the wilderness, by the Jordan.
He offered a baptism of water as a sign of repentance of the people’s participation in the ways ‘of the world.’ Yet he preached that ‘One more powerful than he’ was coming who would baptize with more than water. He said, “So get ready!” Get ready for a new you and a fresh start.
However this fresh start can be scary because what Mark says is that Jesus’ coming into your life will destroy everything important to you in this world, it will free us from controls us, and change everything. There will be no hanging on or going back. Things will be new – and there will be even more new things to come.
Advent calls us as a church to get ready for Jesus’ coming, the end of what is and a fresh start, a new beginning of what will be.
So, “Where is the edge of our wilderness, our desert; where do we find ourselves to be?” And whose voice is it we hear "crying out?” Is it us?”
